Imam Samudra

Imam Samudra, the Muslim extremist who espoused a bitter hatred for Americans and Jews, was sentenced to death on Wednesday for masterminding last October's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The 33-year-old Samudra, who earlier said he would welcome execution because it would bring him closer to God, nervously stroked his wispy beard as a five-judge panel delivered the sentence. He cried out "Allahu akbar" -- God is great -- when the verdict was handed down.

Imam Samudra, the Muslim extremist who espoused a bitter hatred for Americans and Jews, was sentenced to death on Wednesday for masterminding last October's Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. The 33-year-old Samudra, who earlier said he would welcome execution because it would bring him closer to God, nervously stroked his wispy beard as a five-judge panel delivered the sentence. He cried out "Allahu akbar" -- God is great -- when the verdict was handed down.

The terror attack at the JW Marriott Hotel that killed at least 16 people and wounded 150 on Tuesday was almost certainly the work of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that is closely linked to al-Qaida, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Most of the senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah, including its top operations officer and its most skilled bomb makers, were still at large even though about 50 members of the group have been arrested since the attack on a Bali nightclub 10 months ago, they said.

The terror attack at the JW Marriott Hotel that killed at least 16 people and wounded 150 on Tuesday was almost certainly the work of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that is closely linked to al-Qaida, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Most of the senior members of Jemaah Islamiyah, including its top operations officer and its most skilled bomb makers, were still at large even though about 50 members of the group have been arrested since the attack on a Bali nightclub 10 months ago, they said.

By Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress The Washington Post, November 22, 2002

Police have captured an Afghan-trained militant and the alleged ringleader of the group behind the deadly bombings of two nightclubs last month in Bali. Authorities hope that the arrest Thursday of Imam Samudra will lead to the capture of the remaining suspects in the country's worst case of terrorism and also help in the hunt for senior operatives suspected of orchestrating the Bali bombing and other violence in Southeast Asia. Police arrested Samudra, 35, on a bus Thursday afternoon as it was pulling up to a ferry at Merak port in West Java, 60 miles from Jakarta.

The Islamic militant described as the brains behind the Bali bombings in October was portrayed at the opening of his trial on Monday as being a feverishly busy organizer who managed the main tasks for the plot: from choosing the target nightclub to buying the explosives. Imam Samudra, 33, dressed in a tropical white shirt, his black hair unfurled beneath his white skull cap, walked into the courtroom here with his fist in the air, and several shouts of "God is great!" The indictment said that at a planning meeting with his accomplices in the Indonesian city of Solo two months before the terror attack, Samudra talked of the idea of the Bali bombings as a "big project" that was part of an Islamic war against the United States.

The suspected ringleader of last month's deadly Bali bombing confessed Friday that he personally selected two crowded nightclubs as his targets to further the cause of Islamic holy war, police officials said. Terror suspect Imam Samudra, who was arrested Thursday trying to flee the island of Java, also told police that the first of three blasts to hit Bali was a suicide bomb carried in a backpack by a Muslim "martyr." If true, it would signal the arrival in Indonesia of a tactic widely used by Muslim militants in the Middle East but not here, where security is generally less strict and such extreme measures aren't as necessary.

Last month's deadly bombing on the island of Bali was carried out by a computer-savvy group of Indonesian Muslims with links to previous anti-Christian attacks, police said on Sunday. Providing the most comprehensive picture to date of the group thought responsible for the attack Oct. 12 that killed 191 people, police said the operational leader was a university-trained engineer known as Imam Samudra and that he probably learned how to make bombs in Afghanistan. Police Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, who is heading the investigation, released sketches and photographs of six suspects, including Samudra, whom he described as the "highly mobile field commander" of the attack.

Malaysia has arrested four Islamic militants accused of planning a suicide attack against Western targets in Singapore, including the United States and other embassies, officials in Kuala Lumpur said Tuesday. Malaysian police arrested the men between Nov. 16 and 20 in the state of Johor, which borders Singapore, and identified them as three Malaysians and a Singaporean. "I believe these groups identify themselves as a suicide bombing [squad]. ... They call themselves as a suicide squad," Malaysian Police Chief Norian Mai told reporters.

Weeks before the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, suspected terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir argued against carrying out attacks in Indonesia because of fears of a police crackdown, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Crisis Group. But his views were disregarded by younger, more radical members of the terror group Jemaah Islamiah, causing a "deep rift" within the organization, according to the study by the Brussels-based conflict research organization. "It was not that Bashir disagreed with violence as a tactic," the report says.

The Islamic militant described as the brains behind the Bali bombings in October was portrayed at the opening of his trial on Monday as being a feverishly busy organizer who managed the main tasks for the plot: from choosing the target nightclub to buying the explosives. Imam Samudra, 33, dressed in a tropical white shirt, his black hair unfurled beneath his white skull cap, walked into the courtroom here with his fist in the air, and several shouts of "God is great!" The indictment said that at a planning meeting with his accomplices in the Indonesian city of Solo two months before the terror attack, Samudra talked of the idea of the Bali bombings as a "big project" that was part of an Islamic war against the United States.

The suspected ringleader of last month's deadly Bali bombing confessed Friday that he personally selected two crowded nightclubs as his targets to further the cause of Islamic holy war, police officials said. Terror suspect Imam Samudra, who was arrested Thursday trying to flee the island of Java, also told police that the first of three blasts to hit Bali was a suicide bomb carried in a backpack by a Muslim "martyr." If true, it would signal the arrival in Indonesia of a tactic widely used by Muslim militants in the Middle East but not here, where security is generally less strict and such extreme measures aren't as necessary.

By Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress The Washington Post, November 22, 2002

Police have captured an Afghan-trained militant and the alleged ringleader of the group behind the deadly bombings of two nightclubs last month in Bali. Authorities hope that the arrest Thursday of Imam Samudra will lead to the capture of the remaining suspects in the country's worst case of terrorism and also help in the hunt for senior operatives suspected of orchestrating the Bali bombing and other violence in Southeast Asia. Police arrested Samudra, 35, on a bus Thursday afternoon as it was pulling up to a ferry at Merak port in West Java, 60 miles from Jakarta.

Last month's deadly bombing on the island of Bali was carried out by a computer-savvy group of Indonesian Muslims with links to previous anti-Christian attacks, police said on Sunday. Providing the most comprehensive picture to date of the group thought responsible for the attack Oct. 12 that killed 191 people, police said the operational leader was a university-trained engineer known as Imam Samudra and that he probably learned how to make bombs in Afghanistan. Police Gen. I Made Mangku Pastika, who is heading the investigation, released sketches and photographs of six suspects, including Samudra, whom he described as the "highly mobile field commander" of the attack.

After Imam Samudra was charged with engineering the devastating Bali nightclub bombings two years ago, he taunted his police accusers in court, and then greeted his death sentence with the cry, "Infidels die!" So when Samudra published a jailhouse autobiography this fall, it wasn't surprising that it contained virulent justifications for the Bali attacks, which killed 202, most of them foreign tourists. But tucked into the back of the 280-page book is a chapter of an entirely different cast, titled "Hacking, Why Not?"

By Raymond Bonner and Jane Perlez The New York Times, November 18, 2002

The al-Qaida network that carried out the terrorist attack in Bali is responsible for past plots against the United States in Southeast Asia, and is now planning to strike at Western students at international schools in Jakarta, Western and Indonesian officials said Sunday. The plan to attack schools was uncovered in the last few days, and officials said Sunday the schools would remain closed until at least Wednesday. Officials declined to say precisely how they had learned of the plot, but the United States and Australia have stepped up their electronic surveillance and intelligence gathering here since the Bali attack, which killed nearly 200, most of them Australians.